Oration Delivered At The Sean Healy Commemoration In Dublin

Oration delivered by a member of Na Fianna at the Sean Healy Commemoration on Easter Monday.

”Friends and comrades, we are gathered here today in memory of one of our members who fell in this very spot during the 1916 rebellion after being shot down by a British sniper.

Sean Healy, the young soldier who here today we commemorate, was a courageous and brave young fellow who at the age of just 15 years, made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom of Ireland.

Sean was born into a Republican family in 1901 here
in Phibsboro. His father was a member of the Irish Volunteers and worked tirelessly, like Sean, for the Republican struggle. The night before the rising kicked off and the Proclamation was read at the GPO, Sean aided his father in the moving of arms and ammunition from their house to others places around the City.

Sean joined Na Fianna Éireann at a very young age and was a very serious young boy. Even tho he was just 15 years old when he went out to fight in 1916, he was a well capable soldier and a fine young marksman. He was drilled and showed the use of arms by no one other than Fian Sean Heuston who was later executed for his role in the 1916 rising along with another member of Na Fianna Éireann, Fian Con Colbert.

The day the rising kicked, the leadership of the Volunteers ordered young members of Na Fianna Éireann to stay at home during the battle, and only called on Commanding Officers and senior members to take part. But Sean, like the bold young boy he was disobeyed orders(even tho he shouldn’t have) and went out to fight. Sean ended up in Jacobs Factory but was sent home by Thomas McDonagh with a dispatch of correspondence which was to be delivered to a Volunteer officer in Phibsboro as Sean made his way home. Sean marched alone in full Fianna uniform from Jacobs factory which was over to the Southside, right across the Liffey and up what we now call today constitution hill. Upon his arrival at the Cross roads in which we gather here today, Sean was sniped by a British soldier and died instantly. As he lay there bleeding and dying his last words were ”God Bless the Volunteers”.

Although Sean did not engage in any of the fighting, he showed how determined he was to fight and showed how brave he was by marching on his own from his home into the South Inner City and then back towards his home.

We all should be inspired by this young soldier. A young boy who was determined, fearless and who had a love of his country and his fellow brothers in Na Fianna Éireann.

Sean died for the same thing young Emmett died for, and that was to rid our land of the British government and their forces.

Today we still have British Rule in the North and we still have British soldiers raiding and ransacking the homes of Irish Republicans. It is clear that the ideals Sean stood for have yet became a reality. We in Na Fianna Éireann aim to put those ideals into play once and for all. We will take the stand that Sean and Na Fianna Éireann took in 1916 again if need be.

We understand that in order for our organization to be successful in our aims we must be active on the ground, interacting with the youth of Ireland. Above all else, we understand that in order for Na Fianna Éireann to be a success, that their must be mutual trust, comradery and brotherhood within the movement. We do and must continue to treat each other as if we were all brothers. 90% of the time brothers will never betray their brothers and if need be lay down their lives for each other. There should be no personal differences within our organisation and we want no boy to enter our ranks who has no genuine concern for the freedom of Ireland, his language or history and who is not willing to treat their fellow comrades in the Fianna like brothers.

The aim of Na Fianna Éireann today remains the same as it was on our founding. To re-establish the independence of Ireland by means of training our youth to fight Ireland’s fight when they are older and the day comes. We may not be a huge organization at the present, but we are re-building slowly but surely, we are serious and we are determined. We never have deviated from our principles and we never will. Na Fianna Éireann always has rejected Leinster House and Stormont and we will continue to do so. We will continue to fight until the British have left our country, until the lackey Free State collapses and until a new and free Ireland is build upon both the ruins of Stormont and Leinster House.

Today we live in a land in which the majority of its people cannot speak their language but only the language of its invader and oppressor. We are one of the only countries in the world that cannot speak our own language. That is why we believe our selves to be of major importance. We of Na Fianna Éireann want to sow the seed of love of language and history in the youth of our country and also the seed in which ripped in the revolutionary minds of the youth of 1916, the seed of revolutionary patriotism.

We call on you all gathered here today to get your family members involved in Na Fianna Éireann. Let them learn their language and history, let them fight for a united and free Ireland. The youth is the future and this country and its old, Gaelic and patriotic ways are futureless unless we get the youth on board Na Fianna Éireann .

To finish things off i would like to thank you all for gathering here today. We hope to see you all again next year at the same location to mark the centenary of Sean’s execution.”